Egypt Scraps Plan To End Energy Subsidies

Inflows of Saudi cash and savings from lower oil prices have enabled Egypt to cut back its plans to phase out energy subsidies.

Last July Cairo announced plans to phase out energy subsidies over the following five years. But the country’s Prime Minister Sharif Isma’il – energy minister at the time of last year’s announcement – says that the government now plans to keep subsidies at 30% of their July 2014 values indefinitely.